Sunday, 30 October 2016

I'm a bit late in writing this, but I was recently lucky enough to see the fabulous Jinkx Monsoon and Peaches Christ perform in Return to Grey Gardens in Manchester!

The show was a drag tribute to the original cult documentary film Grey Gardens shot by the Maysles brothers in 1975.

Featuring mother and daughter, Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, the film follows the two women as they coexist in the crumbling remains of their once grand East Hampton home Grey Gardens surrounded by dozens of cats and raccoons and the debris of decades of neglect and lack of money. It's fascinating to watch and there's something both touching and inspiring in the way Little Edie fashions new outfits out of a jumble of ragtag items topped with her remaining Tiffany brooch.

The film is full of classic one liners as both women argue and make up, sing and dance their way through each monotonous day. The stage show reenacted whole sections of beloved dialogue from the film perfectly and I loved how Jinkx, with the perfect upper crust Manhattan drawl, put her own spin on Little Edie as the beleaguered daughter Little Jinkxy, with dreams of stardom forced to stay with her manipulative Drag Mother Big Peachy.

Return to Grey Gardens was the perfect homage to the film, never poking fun at the two women who inspired it, always tongue in cheek but at times poignant too. Little Jinkxy belting out I Dreamed a Dream to her rooftop raccoon audience was stunning, funny and when you think about it, right on the money, as Little Edie was a performer at heart who never got to fulfill her calling.

Peaches Christ looked amazing and was great as the pushy matriarch who cooks a mean corn and takes a little too much delight in the handy man Jerry (played with panache by Team GB athlete Matt Lister!) and I loved how the show made good use of local talent to fill the roles of birthday party guests, cats and the Beale's famous cousin Jackie O! All the performances were brilliant and it looked like everyone was having the best fun ever. Special mention goes to Manchester creative Bren O Callaghan who not only produced the show but starred in it as the camera toting David Maysles.

I'd been excited to see the show for months and in the run up I drew Jinkx as Little Jinkxy, which I'm pleased to say she loved and she also re-posted on her Instagram.

I'd have loved to have made the after show party STAUNCH which happened at Islington Mill but it wasn't to be, fortunately I was able to live vicariously through this backstage video filmed at the Mill before the girls went on stage and Peaches has some interesting things to say about the show and why the film appeals to the drag/gay scene so much.

Top marks to everyone involved, we certainly had loads of fun and loved dressing up to be in the audience, I'll never listen to 'Stay' by Rihanna in the same way again, it was so so good.

Wednesday, 14 September 2016

I went to see the wonderful Dame Joan Collins in her one woman (and one man) show at The Lowry this week. I can happily say I have now seen two of my holy trinity of legendary female icons, that being, Dolly Parton, Joan Collins and Joanna Lumley (only Lumley to go).

Joan Collins has fascinated me for years; as a little girl I was caught off guard by her bitchy sexy character Alexis in Dynasty. If she came on TV I'd find myself drawn to the screen to just look at her. The combination of glossy lipstick, huge earrings and high hair mixed with that cut glass English accent certainly left an imprint in my mind.

As I got older it was Joan's approach to life that next caught my attention. I admire the way she looks no matter what the occasion. Joan Collins is glamour! Not once do we ever see JC slumming it in joggers and a slouchy top, never without her hair done, and NEVER without her makeup. One interviewer once made the faux pas of asking if she ever forgoes the glamour at the weekend and Joan practically winced, 'NO. I wouldn't want that for myself or for anyone else'. Her standards are high just like her self esteem.

The live show began with Joan clad in a black lacy trouser suit sitting alongside her husband Percy in a simple set that put me in mind of Claridges. Percy MC'd while Joan answered the never halting flow of questions from the audience, 'What was Hollywood like in the 50's?' (Exciting, she went to lots of showbiz parties and her first film there was opposite the legendary Bette Davis), Did you ever meet Marilyn Monroe? (Yes, and it was while chatting that Marilyn gave her the advice to watch out for the Hollywood studio bosses who could drop her at the click of a finger if she didn't make them happy. Joan managed to dodge the casting couch), What was it like working on Dynasty? (Wonderful but hard work, she had to keep her weight below eight and a half stone to fit into the costumes as the camera adds ten pounds).

By the second half Joan had changed into a champagne gold sequin gown and looked every inch the star she is. The evening was full of delicious tidbits about Joan's lifestyle, friends and packed career interspersed with wonderful film clips and photos. When an audience member asked if there was any rivalry between Joan and her late sister Jackie while growing up, it was asked with such reverence you could feel the theatre give a little collective nod of respect to the author. Joan answered that of course they were competitive but ultimately they were crazy about each other and she misses her sister everyday.

I loved hearing about my favourite period of Hollwood history from someone who had lived through it. Paul Newman, Gene Kelly, Joan Crawford... there were so many names dropped I couldn't keep up! Then of course when Joan chatted about her beauty regime, make up and style rules I was all ears. There was even a little window into Joan and Percy's wedding night that involved gaffer tape and a lot of yelling. I wont go into details in case you see the show yourself but it was highly entertaining.The whole evening was a relaxed and fun insight into the life of a much loved living legend and was a wonderful treat I'll never forget!

Wednesday, 31 August 2016

I've been really LOVING make up tutorials on the web for some time now. If there's buffing lining or blending going on, I'm all over it! Drag tutorials are no exception and it was with glee that I first clicked on Lucy Garland a make up whizz who just adores all things Qween!

I've been wanting to create some art work that includes my love of cosmetics for some time but couldn't figure out how to do this without the work becoming a bit one dimensional. That changed after I watched a few drag tutorials. I decided to put thread to canvas and get stitching!

This was a really enjoyable process; I decided to combine painting, applique and embroidery to make something that had multi layers and a real pop! I'm so happy with the outcome. Here's how it evolved:

I've starting my second drag embroidery already, I like to work on them during my down time or in between other projects. They are so fun to do and very satisfying and calming. All the while I'm stitching I'm immersed in glamour and make up, I love it!

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Here's the second interview for my Gentlemen Prefer Blondes update series. I'm catching up with the first people I ever painted from over a decade ago in order to update their original portraits based on their life experiences and individual stories. Find out why and how I intend to do this HERE.

Alex is someone I've known for about 20 years. She is my brother in law's niece and a few years younger than me. Although we never got to know each other really well we still both fell into the alternative scene of the early 2000's so had some shared memories. For instance we went to see Blur together at Manchester's G-mex, when it was still called the G-mex and I remember bumping into her regularly at The Ritz when it still had it's rock night on a Monday. She posed for me back in 2003 in a makeshift photo shoot at her then shared house, where we discussed boys, clothes and the film Girl Interrupted, the theme song of which she chose as inspiration for the quote for her portrait.

The Lights are Much Brighter There acrylic on canvas 2004

Now, Alex works as a Marketing & Communications Manager for the youth charity Mahdlo based in Oldham and her as her chief love, an actor. She is also a founding member of The Unnamed Theatre Company. Our interview began on a pleasant Sunday morning in Manchester city centre over steaming mugs of tea:Tell me more about your theatre companyIt's a group of stage managers, actors and directors working together. We couldn't agree on a name hence it's called The Unnamed Theatre Company. Our first show was in August, it was 'In Flame' by Charlotte Jones and ran at Joshua Brookes and Oldham Library.

How much does being an actor
figure in your sense of self? What does it mean to you?It’s something I’ve always wanted
to do. When I was 18 I wondered what I was going to do at Uni but the
performing arts courses with their ‘jazz hands’ always put me off. So I studied
philosophy instead.In my mid 20’s I still wanted to
do acting and performance. People assume you must be extroverted but I hate
being the centre of attention in public. However I love performing

Why do
you think that is?

I’m really nosy and I like figuring out the psychology
of things. Last year I was doing a play and thought ‘this is a really odd thing
to do with your time!’ No matter how hard work is I go to classes and once
there I always come out feeling great.

You've told me before about having anxiety and depression, how have you managed to deal with that?

I’ve had depression on and off since my younger years but I never
figured out why. A few years ago I was in a crappy relationship and I thought
it was me that was the problem. Doctors just tried to give me drugs so I went
on a course of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). I finally gave myself the
time and space to tackle my anxiety.

The CBT was really useful; it taught me small daft things like thinking,
‘I Could’ instead of ‘I should’. It took off some of the pressure I put on
myself.

Six months after the course I got a new job,quit the Philosophy course
which wasn’t working for me and got out of the horrible relationship.

I still get anxious but I can manage and the overwhelming sense of doom
has gone. It takes time but I wasn’t afraid to tackle stuff anymore. After that
I got into acting. I’m more comfortable. It’s true that in life you only get
out what you put in.

When I look at your Gentlemen Prefer Blondes portrait
I see the rock/grunge scene of the early 2000’s. It makes me
think of dancing to Marilyn Manson,
reading Kerrang magazine and trying out smudgy makeup
looks. Personally I find your portrait very evocative of that time
and the sub cultures that defined it. Can you
explain your look in your portrait and why you were drawn to the alternative
scene?

The alternative scene has always been incredibly important to me; it
allows outsiders to have a sense of belonging, to meet like-minds and
like-hearts, it encourages experimentation in self-expression. We used to go to
the Star and Garter every Saturday, Rockworld on Thursdays, The Ritz on
Mondays...When I was younger I felt it was important to *look* different because
I felt different. Clothes and aesthetics were hugely important to me in terms
of exploring my own identity and that of other people. As I’ve got older, that
exploration and sense of identity is still there but manifests itself in so
many different ways – whether it’s embracing punk or DIY approaches to building
communities or putting on events; discovering art, books, films, music,
politics and philosophies that are tied to different subcultures; finding
strength and inspiration in zines and the riot grrrl scene… I don’t dress
wildly different to when I did then. Maybe fewer pairs of ripped fishnets, but
still a lot of black and a lot of leopard print!

What things that inspire you now?Ru Paul’s Drag Race! I started watching it when I was such a crap place.
It’s so fun and celebratory. Again it’s about pop culture and sub cultures.I try to see as much live performance as I can as it reinvigorates me
and I get inspiration from friends and my support network.I watch films obsessively and my mum is a big inspiration too obviously.

You look very young
and hopeful in your portrait yet the quote you chose implies a yearning for
something more. Can you explain how you felt at the time, what you were doing
and what your outlook on life was like?I always had a head full of ideas and dreams and
hopes but didn’t have the confidence, knowledge or experience to know what to
do with them. Having come from a working class background in a small town but
close to a city, I always felt the world was full of possibilities but didn’t
know if those possibilities were for me… I guess at the time, I was uncertain but
hopeful that they might be.

Do you identify with that quote
at all now?

Yeah I think so. It’s good to be happy but I don’t know if you should
ever be fully content. It’s not so much a comparative thing, more an explorative thing. Back when I posed for the painting it was as if the lights
were much brighter there...and they weren't here.

I'd also say that
although the pose you strike is confident there is a certain amount of
vulnerability that comes across, of untested youth and a feeling of
invincibility. When you look at the picture now 13 years on how does it make
you feel?I think that’s quite accurate of how I was at the time. Often on the
surface, looking confident and feeling like I owned how I looked and how I
felt, but with a lot of underlying insecurities – definitely posed rather than
looking at the camera, and thinking about the future or a world outside of my
experiences.If we were to do a photo shoot
now, how do you think you’d react?Now I’m much more comfortable in my skin. I’ve got used to the fact that
I can’t look ‘selfie hot’ all the time.I did a performance just after my MA where I wanted to do something that
took me out of my comfort zone so I came up with a piece called ‘Grapheme’. I
stood completely naked for 24 hours in the foyer of East St Arts in Leeds and
got written on by the public. I was blindfolded too. It was a chance to do
something that terrified me but people wrote so many nice and positive things.

Before I did it I was like, I need to lose weight, get toned up! But I
didn’t. It was weird because people assumed that as I was blindfolded I couldn’t
hear them either. I heard one girl say ‘urgh, don’t write on her, she’s got stretch
marks’. But the talking about me made me less concerned about what other people
think. After doing that, I can tackle anything!I was playing with
the idea of the ideal woman for this work back in 2003/4.I was celebrating
femininity. Can you tell me what your opinion of the ideal woman is or even if
that phrase has any relevance to you now?

Patti Smith. Bold, trailblazing, artistic, curious, compassionate, punk,
unafraid to show vulnerability but capable of kicking arse… Feminism is obviously very
important to you; what does it means to you? Everyone’s definitions
seem to differ...

To me personally, it’s about inner strength, having a voice and
community and creating a positive platform to tackle issues like under representation
and fair representation.

I think there does need to be an attacking stance in some cases but it
should always be personal to the individual. The tricky thing is the amount of
infighting within feminism. There’s a superiority thing of ‘my philosophy being
better than yours’. But you can’t embrace something about equality if you think
like that. It drives me nuts!

Do you think Western
societies ideas of the ideal woman have changed much since Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was produced?

I have been lucky to be surrounded by incredibly intelligent, brave,
outspoken, creative women and to have had access to communities (online and
offline) where a lot of progress has been made in terms of open dialogue, body
positivity, feminism, LGBTQIA rights, etc… but working with young people, you
can see that there are so many issues still permeating society’s view of women,
from the media, selfie-culture, etc. Plus with the increase in trolling and
online bullying (Men’s Rights Activists, victim shaming, rape culture), as well
as ongoing global oppression of women, in-fighting amongst feminist / women’s
groups, it feels like it’s becoming increasingly dangerous to speak out or at
least that there are whole new ways for women to be attacked for doing so.

What would you tell/advise the person in the portrait if you could,
knowing what you know now?Don’t
panic. You want to have your shit together NOW. You want to know yourself NOW.
You want to figure everything out NOW. Some time from now (OK, some time around
2015 – DON’T PANIC!), you’ll figure out a whole bunch of things and be happier
than you’ve ever been. On the way to that point, you’ll do some amazing things
and meet some amazing people, you’ll have some dark times, you’ll make some
terrible decisions, you’ll doubt yourself, you’ll make some great decisions,
you’ll get through it all, you will end up with the most ridiculous collections
of anecdotes that you will be able to laugh about one day.

I’d tell
her to value herself, look after herself and to trust her instincts more. And
I’d use RuPaul’s words of advice...

-Thanks very much to Alex for talking to me and being so candid. She is someone who is living every facet of her life with a sense of purpose and I really admire that. I like the way Alex is political and faces issues through pro activism and the arts. I found her tackle with depression really uplifting and the thing which stood out most for me was her art piece she performed allowing people to write on her naked body. The idea of facing ones insecurities while being so vulnerable was obviously a huge part of what now makes Alex who she is. I really like the idea of writing upon the skin and changing a surface through this kind of interaction and this is something I am playing with in order to update her original portrait. I'm thinking about key words which Alex herself had mentioned and the idea of stripping something down and building it back together...I'll be posting more here as the project continues...